History Main / GhostAmnesia

The tendency for [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] or otherwise [[DeadToBeginWith deceased]] or [[TheUndead undead]] characters to forget the details of their former lives. Common things forgotten are: their cause of death, everything ''but'' their cause of death, or everything about their former life entirely. It's often a major problem when attempting to accomplish GhostlyGoals. At times, it may be a self imposed WeirdnessCensor / LaserGuidedAmnesia to avoid realizing they died in the first place.

The tendency for [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] or otherwise [[DeadToBeginWith deceased]] characters to forget the details of their former lives. Common things forgotten are: their cause of death, everything ''but'' their cause of death, or everything about their former life entirely. It's often a major problem when attempting to accomplish GhostlyGoals. At times, it may be a self imposed WeirdnessCensor / LaserGuidedAmnesia to avoid realizing they died in the first place.

&pThe tendency for [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] or otherwise [[DeadToBeginWith deceased]] characters to forget the details of their former lives. Common things forgotten are: their cause of death, everything ''but'' their cause of death, or everything about their former life entirely. It's often a major problem when attempting to accomplish GhostlyGoals. At times, it may be a self imposed WeirdnessCensor / LaserGuidedAmnesia to avoid realizing they died in the first place.

The tendency for [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] or otherwise [[DeadToBeginWith deceased]] characters to forget the details of their former lives. Common things forgotten are: their cause of death, everything ''but'' their cause of death, or everything about their former life entirely. It's often a major problem when attempting to accomplish GhostlyGoals. At times, it may be a self imposed WeirdnessCensor / LaserGuidedAmnesia to avoid realizing they died in the first place.

** While not actually losing her memories, Feferi's seems to care less about whether what she's saying offends or not, whereas before her death she usually took care to be very polite and courteous and was willing to drop her quirk when requested, indicating a change between this and the last time she talked to Jade. Why is it under here? [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004894 Because, stupid. She's D------EAD!]]

* The [[CuteGhostGirl titular character]] of MyLovelyGhostKana has been dead for years by the start of the manga, and after spending all that time alone, trapped in the abandoned apartment building where she died, she's forgotten most details of her life. She isn't even sure how her name was spelled. She does have a pretty vivid recollection of how she took her own life, but she can't remember [[DrivenToSuicide why she did it]]. The upshot of this is it allowed her to develop into a [[GenkiGirl cheerful, energetic girl]] eager for company, [[AngstWhatAngst quite the opposite]] of what you'd expect from the ghost of someone who gruesomely killed herself.

* Izuko the guardian of the Gate of Rage in the Japanese live action series ''{{Skyhigh}}''.

* [[spoiler:Aradia "aA" Megido]] in ''{{Homestuck}}'' may be an example. She is mentioned to have "lost interest" in her various hobbies, and forgets what having emotions feels like.

* In ''LifeOnMars'' and ''AshesToAshes'' all the characters are dead and living in a kind of afterlife/purgatory and only the main protagonists Sam and Alex can remember their former lives as, confusingly, they are alive whilst in this purgatory [[spoiler: at first]]. The series finale has the BigBad forcing the characters to [[AndIMustScream watch their own deaths on TV]], only then do they remember.

* It may not be that they immediately forget everything about their past lives. People age extremely slow in Soul Society. It could be that they've been in Soul Society so long (and age so slowly) that they just eventually forget. When Shibata Yūichi's soul was trapped inside of the parakeet, freed and passes on to Soul Society, he remembered Chad when he visited. It kind of implies that memories are maintained as he also tells Chad that he can't locate his mother. At least for a little while. Give him enough time, and he'll move on and blend in just like everyone else.

* [[spoiler:Aradia "aA" Megido]] in ''{{Homestuck}}'' may be an example. [[spoiler:She]] is mentioned to have "lost interest" in her various hobbies.

* {{Yu-Gi-Oh}}. The Pharaoh can't remember anything about his life other than the fact that he was, uh, a Pharaoh.

* Common in Greek mythology. In fact, one of the main rivers of the underworld was the Lethe, whose water would explicitly cause amnesia. Fresh blood (not necessarily human) would break the spell at least temporarily, as seen when Odysseus visited the underworld looking for advice from the by-then dead seer Teiresias in the ''Odyssey''.

* Common in Greek mythology. In the Odyssey, Odysseus had to feed a ghost blood before it could remember who it was and provide him with the information he sought.

* In ''{{Dungeons & Dragons}}'''s Planescape setting, this happens to petitioners in the afterlife.

* In ''TheSims 3'', every ghost seems to lose all memory of their past life. Friends, lovers, and family members have to introduce themselves and befriend them all over again as if they were a complete stranger.\

* In ''TheSims 3'', every ghost seems to lose all memory of their past life. Friends, lovers, and family members have to introduce themselves and befriend them all over again as if they were a complete stranger.

*[[spoiler:Ego]] from ''The7thGuest''.

*Yuyuko Saigyouji from ''{{Touhou}}'' to the point that she's trying to unseal the thing she [[HeroicSacrifice died to seal]]. Because she's bored.
*{{Fluke}} from the film of the same name.
* Misha in ''{{Chulip}}'' loses more of her memories every time you meet her.
*Izuko the guardian of the Gate of Rage in the Japanese live action series ''{{Skyhigh}}''.

*"D" from the DS game ''AnotherCode'' (''TraceMemory'' in the States). Recovering his memories is a subplot.
*The ghosts in the film version of ''Film/{{Casper}}'' have this, though Casper himself eventually got his memories back.
* In PeterSBeagle's ''A Fine And Private Place'', one ghost forgets how he died.
*Inhabitants of Soul Society in {{Bleach}} are sometimes portrayed as forgetting everything about their lives, although this is in no way a consistent portrayal.

* The Russalka in QuestForGlory 4 was once a young woman who was murdered by being pushed into the lake, and can now remember little of her past life.
** In the same game there is a ghost in the forest who does not remember dying, until you interact with her.

* Ghosts in the new ''WorldOfDarkness'' are described as being shells left behind by the souls of the departed. As such, they tend to retain little sentience, mostly confined to stick to people, places, or objects associated with their death or some unfulfilled goal, and repeatedly act out their death or try to resolve their goal. Mages are capable of temporarily restoring a ghost's living personality, and ghosts start "remembering" once they [[GhostlyGoals resolve all their ties]] and move on to the Underworld.
** And then there are the [[GeistTheSinEaters geists]]. Their amnesia, however, is more a result of giving up some of their former humanity in exchange for power as an aspect of death.
* Neku in ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' starts the game without knowing anything [[spoiler:even that he's dead]]. After the first week [[spoiler:he does gain most of his memories back, but still doesn't know how he died]]. It's not until the very end of the game [[spoiler:that these memories are fully returned to him]].
* In Dungeons & Dragons's Planescape setting, this happens to petitioners in the afterlife.
* In the ''{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Random Shoes", Ethan is {{Dead To Begin With}} and doesn't remember much about his life or anything about how he died, [[spoiler: though his memories gradually come back throughout the episode as he sees things that remind him and helps [[WhodunnitToMe solve the mystery of his own death]], which turns out to be an accident.]]
* Played very straight in HannaIsNotABoysName with an undead character who doesn't even remember his own name.
* Only ''very'' GenreSavvy people in the ''Discworld'' notice their deaths (this troper can only recall one) - the majority get up and dust themselves off, wonder [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat how anyone could have survived that]], and have a nice chat with [[TheGrimReaper the tall skinny man in the cloak]] until realisation dawns.

* A major plot point in ''[[http://www.graphicsmash.com/comics/mnemesis.php Mnemesis]]''.

* In ''TheSims 3'', every ghost seems to lose all memory of their past life. Friends, lovers, and family members have to introduce themselves and befriend them all over again as if they were a complete stranger.

* Common in Greek mythology. In the Odyssey, Odysseus had to feed a ghost blood before it could remember who it was and provide him with the information he sought.